SAN DIEGO (AP)  A day after Arnold Schwarzenegger declared he was running, the man who bankrolled the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis abruptly quit the gubernatorial race Thursday and the state Supreme Court swept aside lawsuits that could have delayed the Oct. 7 vote.

A woman tries to get an autograph from Arnold Schwarzenegger as he leaves the L.A. County Registrar's office Thursday.

By Robert Galbraith, AFP

The justices, six Republicans and one Democrat, chose not to enter the politically charged recall arena two weeks after the election was certified. Never before has California's sitting governor been targeted by a voter-driven recall election that qualified for the ballot.

Earlier in the day, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa withdrew in a tearful news conference, saying that Schwarzenegger's decision Wednesday to place his name on the ballot helped assure him enough qualified candidates would seek the office.

"Once it was possible to not have to be the face of the recall, not have to be the candidate if no one else would lead, I now have the opportunity to choose between two directions," he said. "One is my service in Washington, the other was what many people assumed was blind ambition."

Schwarzenegger and former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, both Republicans, took out nomination papers Thursday as Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said they would run to keep the office in the hands of Democrats if Davis is defeated.

Bustamante, a former state Assembly speaker and the first Hispanic elected to any statewide office in more than 100 years, was the first prominent Democrat to break party unity and enter the fray despite weeks of saying he would stay out of the race.

He said he reluctantly decided to enter as a backup candidate after polls showed Davis vulnerable, but said he would campaign against the recall. Voters will be able to choose whether to recall Davis and then can select from a long list of candidates to succeed him.

"I'm here to tell everyone to vote no on the recall and yes on Bustamante," he said. "We are going to fight like heck against the recall."

In Washington, party sources said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California had reversed herself and concluded the party needs a replacement candidate. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said she has joined in conference calls in recent days with fellow Democratic lawmakers and other officials seeking a consensus candidate.

Davis told a group of teachers in Anaheim to "terminate the Terminator," a reference to Schwarzenegger's popular movie character. He said he wished that fellow party members stayed out of the race, but said more Democrats could bring more voters to the polls.

"Every Democrat says they are against the recall, and I take them at their word," he said.

Issa's announcement earlier in the day came as a surprise because the congressman who made his fortune selling car alarms was one of the first to announce his intention to run and had spent $1.7 million of his own money on the effort.

Bob Mulholland, spokesman for the California Democratic Party, immediately labeled Issa "the arsonist who fled the scene of the fire."

"He didn't stick around to watch the fire, but he's created a mess — $1.7 million for his own political ambition and now he's fleeing the scene," Mulholland said.

Issa had been one of Davis' most vocal critics, saying he misled voters during last year's governor's race about the size of the state budget deficit, which ballooned to $38 billion.

The 49-year-old businessman said he had been repeatedly pounded for minor scrapes with the law that date back to two arrests in 1972 on weapons charges in Ohio and Michigan. One resulted in a $100 fine; the other was dropped.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.